How to remove the document compare symbols with Acrobat 7 and 8

Learn how to remove the symbols that are placed on the page after using the Compare Documents feature.

How can the symbols that are placed on the page be removed after using the Compare Documents feature?

Acrobat 7 and 8 Pro (and Acrobat 3D) offer two types of compare – Page by page visual differences or Textual differences; and two methods to report the differences – Side by Side Report or Consolidated Report. (See Figure 1).

Figure 1: Compare Documents dialog box.

The following table outlines the differences in how the comparison marks are applied:

Side by Side Report

Consolidated Report

Page by page

Comments: none

Content: Path

Comments: Locked Stamp & Rectangle for each markup

Content: Annotations

Textual differences

Comments: to indicate where text is matched up on separate pages

Content: Path

Comments: Locked Underline & Locked Note

Content: Annotations

In the case of Side by Side Report it is possible to remove all markings on the page. However, in the case of Consolidated Report, some of the applied annotations are marked as “read only” and can not be removed via Acrobat. However, via JavaScript or an Acrobat plug-in, it is possible to remove these annotations.